WATCH: Battle brewing over a proposal to cull hundreds of wild horses.

They graze peacefully in the sunlight, so unaware of the argument between humans that directly affects them.

These brumbies are in the firing line. Literally.

Parks Victoria has announced more than 400 will be culled - by shooting.

It’s hardly the wild horses’ fault. They’re doing what they do. Eating grass and exploring forests in the Barmah National Park, just north of Echuca.

Unfortunately - according to Parks Victoria - their lives are damaging the local environment and wildlife.

So - the brumbies must go.

That’s where this argument starts.

Saving the horses

Locals who disagree with Parks Victoria are thinking up ways to save the brumbies who are also dying from starvation in the parched paddocks.

Authorities say they’ll try to re-home some of the wild horses, but that doesn’t sit with locals who want the horses to stay.

“Farmers here are getting rid of horses, not trying to get new ones,” says Murray Willaton, President of the Barmah Brumby Preservation Group. Lynette Sutton drove one hour and 20 minutes to show us the brumbies in the park.

They’re iconic, she argued, because “we were built on the back of a horse. We weren't built off the back of a sheep, or kangaroo.”

Growing population

Parks Victoria has completed aerial surveillance showing the wild horse population is growing and currently sits at more than 500.

They were introduced to the area by a trainer and breeder who left them here in the 1950s.

They’re not from here but they’ve made the area their home.

The locals fighting to save the brumbies won’t reveal what’s up their sleeve when it comes to their next move.

Parks Victoria’s eradication plan is stretched over the next four years.

Murray Willaton has a defiant tone.

“If the government and Parks Victoria think we're going to sit back and watch it happen, they're sorely mistaken.”

Public feedback on the eradication plan is sought, with submissions due by May 30.